Signaling device for vehicles



C. H. GRINGS.

SIGNALING DEVICE FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION HLED MAY 71 I920.

Patented Nov. 9,1920.

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Specification'of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1926.

Application filed May 7, 1920. Serial No. 379,530.

To (ill to item it ay concern;

Be 1t known that I, CAsrnn HUoo Games, a citizen of the United States of America,

and a resident of -Waterloo, Blackhawl'r county, Iowa, have inventedcertainnew and useful Improvements in Signaling Devices for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification. My invention relates to improvements in signaling devices for vel1icles,and particularly to direction-changing indicators for motor-cars, and theobject of my improve ments is to furnish an inexpensive, simple, light, easily operated device of this class, which maybe quickly mounted or demonnted Without special fastening-means or the use of tools, and without the least injury to the structures or to the finish of the car.

This object 1 have accomplished by the means whichare hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View of part oi a motor-car, showing one of my improved signaling devices mounted thereon in its retracted position; Fig. 2 is a top plan of device, on a larger scale, the full lines representing the semaphore arm in its retracted position and the dotted lines showingthe arm in its extended position; Fig. 3 is an"elevation"oi the outer side of said device, with parts broken away. Fig. d is a perspective detail view of the resilient clamping element of the device as separated froni the other elements, with parts thereof housed in pockets of a cushionin structure. Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of the semaphore, showing its rear face. 1

Similar numerals of reference denote similar parts throughout the several views.

'32 is a vehicle of the self propelled class, whose body has side-doors 31, and which has adjacent one of the doors the hand-wheel 33 for changing directionof the car.

My improved signaling" device comprises theassociated clamping-means and arelatively movable emaphore, mounted prefer ably upon one of the doo'rs31near the handwheel for convenient use by the chantfeur. The clamping means consists of a resilient rod bent at separated pointsto turnish a medial horizontal portion 1 with upwardly directedparts 2 and 3, the rod then 7 being bent horizontally to supply members 4b and 5 extending to the same side 111 parallelism, and the e d parts of the rod being shaped to provide yieldable resilient clamping recurved and depending members 6 and 8, which may yieldingly and adjustably grasp opposite faces of the .door 31. The member 8 may be placed at the end of an intermediate horizontal longitudinal part 7 of the rod, as shown.

.lWhile the clamping device shown may be slidably mounted upon any convenient part or doorof a car without modifications in the car structure of any kind, and without marring the same, I have supplied a cushioning means held between the clamping elements of the device and the finished parts or the supporting structnre, which will prevent scratching or any detacement'or' the finish by movements of mounting or demounting the device. This consists of a flexible piece at material 9, whose parts 9 and are positioned betweenthe outer and upper portions of the said clamping means and the door 31, the piece having at its upper corners depending pockets 11 and 12 to receive the de pending clamping members 6 and 8, while the lower part of the piece 9 is formed into an .upwardly-opening; pocket 10 to receive the lower end of the loop of the device at 1.

This eushioningmeans is easily mounted or disassembled, and does not in any way interiiere with the functioning of the movable parts oil the device. v

The numeral. 20 denotes a vertical rockshatt, preferably part oi: a relatively rigid rod, which is positioned alongside" the part 2 of said clamping means, and it is bent just above the part 1 of the clamping means horizontally to provide a semaphore-arm '28. A semaphore disk 2 1 has one edge bent over angularly, and this bent ever part 2-5 is orificed to receivethe arm. 23', the outer end of said arm being bent outwardly and passed-through a central orifice in said disk. The faces of said disk may be colored or patterned in any desired and conspicuous manner to attract attention, as shown, where the forward face is barred horizontally in black and white, and the rear face colored red. p

The numeral 1% denotes a horizontal'plate whose opposite ends are scrolled downwardly at 18 and 19 about the horizontal parts 4: and 5 of the clamping device, and has near one-outer corner an orificed projection 15 traversed upwardly by theroclr-shai't ice 20, the upper part of the latter being bent over horizontally at 21 and furnished with a terminal eye or closed loop 22 to serve as a manually actuated arm to rock said shaft to and fro.

Upon said plate is fastened a flat bar 16 having a looped resilient extremity 17 adapted to receive and releasably retain said arm 21, when thelatter is rocked appropriately to extend the semaphore arm 23 outwardly, as shown by the dotted lines in said Fig. 2.

In order to normally keep the semaphore arm in a retracted posi ion against the body of the vehicle, as shown in full lines in Fm When the arm 2lis released from the spring-' clip 17, the spring 27 will at once rock the semaphore back toa retracted position.

In order to prevent wear and jarringor anycontacts of the semaphore or its arm With the exterior finish of thevehicle body,

I have mounted an elastic or flexible sleeve 26 upon the lower part of the member 3 which thus acts as a cushioning buffer for said semaphore arm.

It will be observed that the clamping device shown is easily mounted or demounted without injury to the parts abutting thereon, no tools are needed in either operation, and the whole device is so simple and light as to occupy but little space. When mounted upon a door 31, its members 6 and 8 will I element of'a vehicle, of a bracketed body be easily positioned about the latching: means of the door at 30, as shown by the dotted lines inFig. 3, and does not interfere therewith.

It is manifest that this device, with slight changes, and without departing from the spirit of the invention, may be attached to thedoors of inclosed or built in automobiles.

Anoticeable advantage of my removable clamping means isthe fact that the semaphore-arm is supported and positioned thereon at such adistance below the top of the door on which it is hung, that when a curtain is mounted in suspenslon on the vehicle above the device, its lower edge, indicated by the dotted line aa in Fig.1, is above the semaphore arm, and between the semaphore and the body of the'vehicle. No interference is possible which will prevent theproper operation of the semaphore,and the curtain may be shifted inany manner with ease.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: I

1. The combination. with a supporting shaped from a single resilient rod into a below said element to afiord clearance above itand between it and the element to receive the depending edge of a curtain overlapping said element, and'means for releasably'retaining said semaphore in a certain position. V l p i 3. The combination with a supporting element of a vehicle, of a' looped and terminally hooked body shaped from a resilient material and removably mounted thereon, a semaphore movably mounted on said body, and yieldable resilient means connected between said semaphore and said body adapted to yieldingly retain the semaphore in a retracted posltion. v

4. The combination with a supporting element of a vehicle, of a looped bracketed body slidably resiliently mounted thereon,

a semaphore movably mounted onsaid body, and an elastic stop mounted ona member of said body and supported inthe path'of movement of said semaphore.

5. The combination with a supporting horizontal edge of a vehicle, of a bracketed body of looped form hung suspensively and removably thereon, a'semaphore horizontally swingingly mounted onsaid body entirely below and without said edge and having an operating arm which extends inwardly across said edge, and a resilient clip adapted to receive said arm when the semaphore is extended to 'releasably retain the semaphore in said position'. V

6. The combination 'with 'a supporting element of a vehicle, of a terminally hooked and medially looped resilient rod hung clampingly and removably upon said element, a plate mounted on spaced members of said rod across said element above said element, a rock-shaft mounted on and provided above. said plate with an operating arm extending across'said plate, said rockshaft having a semaphore-arm extending from its other end outwardly to rock to and fro horizontally relative to the vehicle and offset whollyibelow said plate, and yieldable resilient means connected to said semaphore arm adapted/t0 retain ityieldingly in a position retracted toward the vehicle. I

. 7. The combination with a supporting element of a vehicle, of clamping means mounted on said element, a semaphore'arm horizontally swingingly and elastically connected to said clamping-means positioned wholly a relatively wide distance below and when retracted lying closely against the vehicle, means for moving said arm to and from said vehicle, and means for retracting the arm toward the vehicle elastically.

8. The combination with a supporting element of a vehicle, of a bracketed body removably mounted thereon, said body being formed from an-elastic rod medially looped to provide members extending up wardly, and terminally hooked, a rockshaft mounted vertically alongside said body and having at its lower end below said element a horizontal offset semaphore arm, and a cushioning body mounted on one of the members of the loop of said body in the path of movement of the semaphore arm.

9. In a signaling device of the class described, a horizontally swinging semaphore, and a hanger on which the semaphore is movably mounted, said hanger consisting of an elastic rod bent into a depending loop with members extending upwardly, the

members being then hooked with the hooks spaced longitudinally relative to an abutting s upporting body, and the loop and hooks of the hanger adapted to releasably elastically grasp the supporting body between them. 7 l

Signed at Waterloo, Iowa, this 24th day ofApril,1920. 1

CASPER HUGO GRINGS. 

